NEW: Because of "significant risks" from wildfires, major storms & new COVID-19 restrictions, Census Bureau may not be able to complete #2020Census counting in all states by Sept. 30, Al Fontenot, bureau's top official for the count, warns in court filing. assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7207…
2. This court filing on 9/11 was for @MALDEF, @AAAJ_AAJC-led lawsuit in Maryland over Trump admin's last-minute decision to cut short #2020Census. I found key differences between this filing & the 9/4 filing (earlier thread below) for a suit in California
3. Associate Director Al Fontenot said in the 9/4 filing (left) the Census Bureau intends to "resolve 99% of the cases in each state."
But there's no mention of 99% in the 9/11 filing (right).
4. The number of "actively deployed" #2020Census door knockers dropped by 4,000 to 231,000 workers between 9/4 (left) and 9/11 (right).
5. A CFS area (census field supervisor area) is a "supervisory work assignment areas consisting of 4,000-5,500 housing units," according to Fontenot's 9/11 filing (right), which includes new numbers of areas in or eligible for "closeout" and those that have "reached conclusion."
6. Associate Director Al Fontenot apparently left out of the 9/4 filing (left) that he told senior career Census Bureau managers on 7/20 to "gather their staff of professional demographers, survey analysts, statisticians, and programmers."
7. The decision to expand early door-knocking to "all offices that could meet the safety, health, and staffing requirements" was made on July 14, according to the 9/11 filing (right) by Fontenot, who said in the 9/4 filing (left) that it took place in "early or mid July."
8. The 9/4 filing (left) said there's "no opportunity to begin the post data collection processing until data collection operations close everywhere," but the 9/11 filing said there's now "little opportunity," noting initial processing of addresses has been moved up by 26 days.
9. Why did Associate Director Al Fontenot not mention in the 9/4 filing the Census Bureau's "optimized" computer processing systems and "significant advances in computing technology" for the #2020Census that are highlighted in the 9/11 filing (below)?
10. In 9/11 filing, Fontenot said Census Bureau "took
action at the Headquarters level to ensure that no action in the period of September 5–17 would be contrary" to the temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh - no details about what actions were taken.
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A controversial Census Bureau proposal could shrink the rate of disability in the U.S. by about 40%. Public comments on this potential change are due Tuesday, Dec. 19, but NPR has confirmed there will be another opportunity to give feedback in the spring… npr.org/2023/12/18/121…
2. Public comments on these proposed changes to the disability questions on the American Community Survey can be emailed to acso.pra@census.gov. The bureau tells NPR they are set to be published here before the next public comment period in the spring: regulations.gov/document/USBC-…
3. The bureau says the proposed changes are part of a years-long effort to improve the quality of its disability data and standardize the statistics so they're comparable to other countries' numbers npr.org/2023/12/18/121…
The Supreme Court could upend how federal elections are run across the U.S. if it adopts even a limited version of a once-fringe idea called the "independent state legislature theory."
I wrote about what could happen after SCOTUS rules on Moore v. Harper: npr.org/2023/01/22/114…
A Supreme Court ruling that adopts some version of the “independent state legislature theory” could lead to more lawsuits and bring uncertainty to upcoming elections npr.org/2023/01/22/114…
A Supreme Court ruling that adopts some version of the “independent state legislature theory” could make it easier for state lawmakers to ignore voting rights protected under state law npr.org/2023/01/22/114…
I wrote about a push for the U.S. Supreme Court to change who counts as Black in redistricting.
Republican officials in Louisiana want a narrower definition of Blackness that excludes some Black people & could minimize Black voting power around the U.S. npr.org/2022/10/18/112…
2. A 2003 ruling by SCOTUS after the 2000 census — the first U.S. head count that allowed people to identify with more than one race — set a standard definition of "Black" for voting rights cases focused exclusively on the voting power of Black people. npr.org/2022/10/18/112…
3. That definition of "Black" has included everyone who identifies as Black for the census — including people who mark the boxes for Black and any other racial/ethnic category such as white, Asian & Hispanic/Latino, which federal gov't says is an ethnicity npr.org/2022/10/18/112…
SCOOP: Former President Donald Trump's payroll tax delay last year left a $7 million accounting mess for the Census Bureau, which has been trying to get ~28K former census workers to pay off their debt after giving up trying to collect from ~148K others npr.org/2021/11/05/104…
2. I deleted this earlier tweet that misstated the number of former 2020 census workers from whom the Census Bureau has decided to stop trying to collect unpaid payroll taxes. That number is 147,619 former workers (not ~178K):
3. The Census Bureau was one of many fed agencies the Trump admin directed last year to stop collecting some employees' share of a payroll tax that helps fund Social Security. Trump said it would get "bigger paychecks for working families.” But it’s also an accounting challenge.
I asked the office of Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. — who blocked an attempt to confirm Census Bureau director nominee Robert Santos by unanimous consent in October — why Scott said he's concerned Santos will “politicize" the bureau & not serve "in a fair and unbiased fashion"...
2. So far, Scott's office has not provided any evidence that would suggest Santos would “politicize” the Census Bureau and “not perform his duties in a fair and unbiased fashion."
Instead, Scott's communications director, McKinley Lewis, gave this statement by email:
3. I am waiting for any direct response to this follow-up question:
Does Sen. Rick Scott consider Robert Santos not qualified or competent to serve as Census Bureau director? If so, why?
NEW: The 2020 census likely undercounted people of color at rates higher than those of the last count, an @urbaninstitute study finds. That could translate into inequities in political representation & federal funding across the U.S. for the next 10 years npr.org/2021/11/02/104…
@urbaninstitute 2. Important to note: This @urbaninstitute study is *not* an analysis of 2020 census results & doesn't show actual over/undercounts. The estimates are based on a *simulated* census & a method for measuring accuracy that's different from the Census Bureau's urban.org/research/publi…
@urbaninstitute 3. Let's also keep in mind: When people of color are undercounted in the census, it's not just "some" groups who miss out on federal funding and political representation — it's *everyone* living in the local communities and states where there are people of color.